


Bring It (Sorry 'Bout Your Face)

by Silent-Wordsmith (Shatteredsand)



Series: Awkward Conversations [3]
Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: Brotp: Rivalry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-14
Updated: 2014-11-14
Packaged: 2018-02-25 07:21:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2613179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shatteredsand/pseuds/Silent-Wordsmith
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Underneath all that simmering violence and competition, Danny does actually like Kirsch when he’s not being accidentally misogynistic and/or too oblivious to realize that Laura is very much not interested. And she might owe him an apology. A big one.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bring It (Sorry 'Bout Your Face)

The next time Danny passes Kirsch in the halls, the left half of his face is a mix of pulsating purple and sickly yellow. Oh. Yeah.

To be honest, Danny had kind of forgotten about that. Making Laura understand what was happening had been so overwhelmingly urgent, and then everything that came after that had taken priority. And now, Danny is remembering that she cold-clocked the dude-bro like _hella_ a few days ago, and she might owe him an apology for that.

Because, really, it had been uncalled for. Kirsch wasn’t doing anything but trying to help Laura, and Danny had sucker punched him. With less control than she usually tries to exert when not struggling for her life or wrestling with one of her pack. Kirsch is human and the force she’d used really hadn’t been, and that wasn’t fair and it wasn’t right and Danny feels bad about it.

Because underneath all the simmering violence and competition between them because of their house rivalry, Danny actually _likes_ Kirsch. You know, why he’s not being a completely oblivious meathead.

She thinks she probably owes him a pretty big apology.

“Kirsch!”

The frat boy’s head comes around so fast Danny is legitimately concerned about whip lash and potential damage to his few remaining brain cells. He comes to such a sudden stop that the Zeta he’s with actually walks into him.

“Sorry, bro. I’ll catch up.”

The frat boy nods understandably, shooting Kirsch the kind of look that Danny is pretty sure mean the dude thinks Kirsch is about to get some. Which, no. Uh-uh. Not happening. Ever. Under any circumstances. She likes her partners nerdy and adorable. And while Kirsch _can_ be adorable—like a giant puppy—he’s also kind of dumb most of the time—like a giant puppy—and dude-bro is _so_ not her type.

“What’s up, Summer Pyscho? Wanna get the other eye?” There’s something that sounds suspiciously similar to hurt in his voice, and Danny doesn’t know how to even begin processing that.

“No. I, uh, wanted to apologize actually. I shouldn’t have punched you.”

“Nah, man. You shouldn’t have. If I hadn’t already seen the tiny hottie with a big smile earlier, we’d be havin’ a different convo, ya know?”

With a sick lurch, Danny realizes the point he’s making. It must have looked really awful from an outside perspective. Carmilla and her running Laura down like that. Laura’s tears. Toppling Kirsch without a word. Gods and goddess, they must have looked like the worst fucking people. Textbook example of everything not to do. Artemis help her, Kirsch wasn’t just an innocent bystander; he’d been the _good guy_.

“I guess I should thank you then, as well. For trying to protect her.”

Kirsch grins at that, squares his shoulders. “Sure thing. You know the motto.”

Danny can’t quite stop the groan from escaping her then, because she does know the motto and it’s nothing to be proud of. It’s _awful_.

Kirsch studies her for a minute, and Danny is trying to think of an easy way to get away from whatever he’s about to say while they’re still on good terms, because the moment he says whatever he’s thinking, she’s probably going to have to go off on him for being a misogynistic idiot.

“Could you, like, teach me how to throw that punch? You know, to better protect the hotties.”

“Uh.” Danny has seen Kirsch fight. He has the finesse of a bull, but he’s strong for a human. Given that this is still Silas, even without the evil Dean, it couldn’t possibly be a bad idea to teach someone how to throw a proper punch. “I guess. Are you doing anything right now?”

“Just my Combinatorics class. But I can ditch.” Kirsch shrugs.

Danny stares. Mouth agape, brain trying to make that sentence make sense. “Combinatorics. Like, the math?”

“Yeah! You take it too? I thought it was supposed to be really hard or something, but maybe I should just test out…”

Danny slowly reaches a hand up and checks to see if her brain is actually leaking out of her ears. It isn’t. “Test out. Of Combinatorics.”

“Do you think it’s too late to get into Abstract Algebra? I mean, I know the Math department wasn’t hit the hardest by our little Attack on Titan, but…some of the littler nerds had to get eaten, right?”

“I—You—Just—How?” Danny wonders if she would have noticed if she walked into a parallel dimension on her way to class.

“I know, I know. Not cool. But , like, also. I don’t wanna have to wait until January to take the course if I test out of Combin. Because then I’ll have no math. And that’d be, like, super hella boring.”

The words coming out of Kirsch’s mouth, individually, make sense. It’s the context that’s throwing her.

“Kirsch. Are you a _math major_?” Danny almost can’t believe that’s a question she honestly has to ask.

“Uh, ch’yeah, dude!” Kirsch seems really pleased about her asking actually. This is freaking Danny to level unheard of since seduction eyes were first mentioned. “Like, that’s why I’m here. Silas has a _wicked_ Math Department. And the test out option is rad. Because I still get the credit, so everything still counts.”

Danny must have walked into a parallel dimension. Shit. Laura’s going to be pissed. And Carmilla is going to be so insufferable about it. As soon as, you know, she gets back to her own Laura and Carmilla instead of Parallel!Laura and Carmilla.

“If I said parallel dimension?”

Kirsch laughs. “Why does everyone say that after I talk about math?” He looks so earnestly confused that it’s actually sad. Sure, he’s never been the brightest bulb in _her_ class, and he talks like a cardboard cutout of a frat boy sent over straight from Hollywood, but that doesn’t mean that he _couldn’t_ be a secret math genius.

Danny is suddenly and forcibly reminded of every time she’s ever tried talking about literature and been looked at like being pretty and tall and sporty meant she was supposed to be an airhead.

“Good question.” Danny smiles. “Probably because, like me, they find math incomprehensible.”

“What? No way? Brainy babe like you?”

“You do realize that most girls don’t take the word ‘babe’ as a compliment, right?”

“Seriously? But it just means you’re pretty. Girls like being called beautiful.”

“Beautiful, yes. Pretty, yes. Babe and hottie just make us sound like…stuff.” Danny shrugs, wondering how they’ve come to be having this conversation. “Kind of like me calling you ‘stud’ without ever using your name.”

“Oh.” Danny is then gifted with a sight she legitimately never thought she’d see: Kirsch apparently thinking things through. “Yeah, I could see how that would suck.”

Will wonders never cease. “So, if you’re not bummed about missing math, we can head on over to the gym and I can kick your ass as a teaching method.” As a TA, Danny thinks maybe she shouldn’t be quite so blasé about Kirsch skipping any of his classes, but if the boy’s going to test out anyways…It’s not her class, it’s not her problem.

Kirsch grins at that. “I’m going to be so boss after this.”

OooO

It’s a little weird grappling with some who’s actually her size. None of the Summer Society pack stand taller than her shoulders. But Kirsch is of equal height, maybe even an inch taller, and it changes the dynamics of things. Not so much that she’s not wiping the floor with him up, down, left, right, and back around, but a little. It’s an adjustment.

His left hand flails for a moment, useless, before tapping out against the mat. He’s grinning like the giant buffoon he is when she lets him up. Because of course the puppy of a boy trying to be a man would laugh about getting his ass handed to him.

“Do you know where you went wrong?”

“Picking a fight with six foot of angry redhead?”

“Yes. But, also?”

“I got hella distracted by how tight your top is?”

And that’s enough of that. “Good session. You can now accurately throw a punch without accidently breaking your wrist like an amateur. See you around.”

“Hey, hey, bro! I was just messin’. I did that thing again. The,” Kirsch gestures wildly, attempting to imitate ‘the thing’. “thing.”

“Yes. You did the thing.” The words are a long, drawn out sigh masquerading as speech. She’s sweaty and tired and a little sore—the boy may not know what he’s doing but he’s still a big guy with good instincts; when he’d managed to land a hit, it had hurt—and she’s just about done for the day. She pretty much just wants to take a shower and go chill with Laura for a bit.

“You gonna tell me how to not do the,” He flails around again, “thing?”

“Alright. One more time.” Danny agrees. Because, really, Laura is still in class for another thirty minutes or so, and it would only take five to walk over to her dorm and then Danny would be alone with Carmilla. Danny doesn’t want to trapped in a small room with the vampire right now, not after what had happened between them, between them and Laura. It feels…too complicated.

Deciding that Laura shouldn’t have to decide, that had been one thing. The thing that came after, Carmilla’s mouth and Carmilla’s hands and the way all of Danny’s strength had abandoned her in those moments, that had been something else entirely. And Danny is in no rush to experience it again. Carmilla is best dealt with when Laura there to buffer the rough edges between them.

“Yeah, man!” Kirsch lights up, six-year-old boy on Christmas morning, and then throws himself at her. She’s mentioned that he fights with the finesse of a drunken bull, right?

His shoulder slams into her gut, just beneath her ribs, and all the air whooshes from her body. Danny can feel her lips pulling into a grin, as she hits the mats.

Hands on her wrists, bigger than hers but somehow gentler. Thighs on either side of her hips, weight pressing down her middle. A sharp bucking movement, he’s not balanced properly— the thing, again—and she has him belly down beneath her in less than a blink.

His arms are still free, and the little asshole does a fucking push-up with her sitting on him before careening to the side and the throwing her off.

“Wonders of wonders, the boy learns.” Technically, that push-up thing hadn’t been in the lesson plan, but she’s going to file it under _keep moving, there’s almost always a way out_ , which had been. “You did the thing again, though.”

“Show me how to do it right, again?”

She does.

 


End file.
